Screw driver with screw holding means



" Z1 WILLIAM HLYNSKY Sept. 22, 1959 w. HLYNSKY SCREW DRIVER WITH SCREW HOLDING MEANS Filed NOV. 1'7. 1955 .tates 1 My invention relates to new and useful improvements in screw drivers, the principal object and essence of my invention being to provide a device of the character herewithin described in which the screw head is firmly grasped by a pair of jaws and at the same time the screw driver bit is firmly held in position within the slot normally associated with said screw, thereby facilitating the driving of the screw and, at the same time, facilitating the entering of the screw into the work.

A further object of my invention in conjunction with the foregoing object is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which enables the screw to be firmly held by the screw driver prior to entry in the work, thus facilitating the starting of the screw under difficult conditions.

A yet further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is easily adaptable for use with screws having a conventional slot, a rectangular recess, or the well-known double slot at right angles one with the other.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is simple in construction, economical in manufacture, and otherwise well suited to the purpose for which it is designed.

With the foregoing objects in view, and such other objects and advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device, sectioned in part to show the interior thereof.

Figure 2 is a section along the lines 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the sleeve per se.

Figure 4 is an enlarged side elevation of one of the jaws per se.

Figure 5 is a section along the lines 5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure '6 is a fragmentary enlarged side elevation of the lower end of my device.

Figure 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the lower end of the screw driving shaft showing one method attachment of the bit thereto.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

Attempts have been made in the past to provide means whereby the screw may be held by the screw driver prior to entry into the work and one well-known example of this is the screw driving shaft with a pair of resilient jaws secured thereto extending to adjacent the tip, said jaws having inturned ends which are adapted to engage the underside of the head of the screw.

While this is satisfactory to hold the screw temporarily while it is being entered into a pro-drilled hole, nevertheless, these jaws do not provide suflicient support to the head of the screw to enable it to be driven as laterial support is almost non-existent with this type of screw driver.

The present device provides means whereby the screw A 2,905,215 Q Patented Sep v 1959' may be held firmly both by the head and by the engagement of the bit with the slot so that extremely good lateral support is provided, thus permitting forward pressure to be supplied to the screw as well as the rotative driving pressure, thus eliminating the necessity of supporting the screw with the fingers while the initial driving is taking place.

Proceeding therefore to describe my invention in detail, it will be seen upon reference to the accompanying drawings that I have provided a handle portion 1 and a screw driving shaft or stem 2 extending therefrom. In this embodiment, the shaft 2 is freely rotatable within the handle portion 1, cooperation existing between the handle portion and the shaft by means of conventional ratchet mechanism collectively designed 3 and which is not illustrated in detail. It will be appreciated, however, that the shaft can be secured permanently to the handle if it is not desired to use conventional ratchet means cooperating therebetween.

The lower or distal end 4 of the shaft 2 carries the screw driver bit 5, which may be a conventional blade or, alternatively, may have a special configuration in order to fit other types of screw head slots, such as square recessed types or crossed slot types. The bit may be detachably secured to the end 4 of the shaft by any one of many conventional means and Figure 7 shows one of these means. A tapered recess 6 is formed within the ends 4 of the shaft, said recess having a square crosssection and the associated bit (not illustrated) is provided with a similar dimensioned shaft which is entered into the recess 6 and is held therein by friction.

A cylindrical body portion or block 7 centrally apertured and screw-threaded as at 8 screw threadably engages around a screw-threaded portion 9 of the shaft 2, so that rotation of the portion 7 independently of the shaft 9 will cause said portion to move lineally along the shaft.

The lower end 10 of this body portion is recessed as at 11 and is adapted to receive a sleeve 12 having a. flange 13 formed on the outer surface thereof. This flange is receivable within an annular recess 14 formed within the recess 11 and is adapted to be rotatable therein. From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the body portion 7 can be rotated without rotating the sleeve 12, but that any linear movement of the body portion 7 along the shaft 2 causes similar linear movement of the sleeve 12.

A pair of screw head engaging jaws collectively designated 15 are pivotally secured by pins 16 to the aforementioned sleeve 12 and extend downwardly parallel to the shaft 2, as shown in Figure 1. This lower portion 17 of the shaft 2 is recessed upon two of its sides as at 18 and the jaws 15 freely engage the recesses, as shown in Figure 5. Each of the jaws 15 includes a relatively vertical arm portion 19, the outer surfaces of which taper outwardly to form cam surfaces 20 and then terminate in screw head engaging portions 21 at the lower ends thereof. Within the portions 21 is formed a pair of grooves 22, the con figuration of the grooves complementing the configuration of the edges 23 of the head 24 of the associated screw 25, and it will be appreciated that different jaws can be fitted to the device in order to suit the configuration of the various heads of different types of screws.

The vertical portions 19 of the jaws are slotted as at 26, each of said slots carrying a tension spring 27 upon the end of which is a transverse pin 28. A collar or ring 29 surrounds the jaws and shaft and the pin 28 bears against one surface 30 of this sleeve. The springs 27 react between the ring 29 and the upper end 31 of the slot or recess 26, thus normally forcing the ring towards the lower ends of the jaws. Due to the tapered surfaces 20 of the jaws, engaged by the sides of the ring, this means that the extremities of the jaws are normally forced toward one another unless the ring is moved manually towards the handle portion 1, whereupon of course the jaws may be spread apart to engage around the associated screw head 2.4.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that rotation of the body portion 7 independently of the shaft 2 will cause the jaws 15 to move lineally along the shaft.

In operation, the ring or sleeve 29 is moved manually against the pressure of springs 27 so that the jaw extremities 21 may be spread apart and engaged around the screw head 24, whereupon release of the ring will cause the springs to extend, thus forcing the extremities 21 together so that they may grip the screw head securely. Body portion 7 is then rotated upon shaft 2 in order to move, the body portion and the jaws upwardly in the direction of arrow 32, thus causing the bit to engage within the slot 33 formed in the screw head. This engagement should be forceful, so that the screw is then held securely by the jaws and the blade, whereupon it can be inserted as desired into the work. Finally, a detachable extension handle 34 may be inserted within recess 35' so that it extends at right angles from the handle -1, thus, providing additional leverage.

Since various modifications can be made in my inven- 'tion as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claim without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is:

In a screw driver, the combination of a stem having a screw engaging bit at one end thereof and a screwthreaded portion spaced longitudinally from said bit, a screw-threaded block rotatably positioned on the screwthreaded portion of said stem, a sleeve non-rotatably but slidably positioned on the stem adjacent said block, means operatively connecting said block to said sleeve whereby the latter may he slid by rotation of the former, a portion of said stem between said block and said bit being provided at diametrically opposite sides thereof with a pair of longitudinally extending grooves, a pair of arms. pivoted at one end thereof to said sleeve and projectable radially outwardly from and retractable in said grooves, screwengaging jaws provided at the other end of said arms and disposed adjacent said bit, said arms being provided with elongated recesses and having cam surfaces at the outer side edges thereof, a collar embracing said arms and engaging said cam surfaces, and compression springs provided in the recesses of said arms and operatively engaging said collar, whereby to urge the arms to their retracted position in said grooves.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 855,280 Campbell May 28, 1907 1,039,751 Ingram Oct. 1, 1912 1,465,139 Long Aug. 14, 1923 1,754,739 Calvert Apr. 15, 1930 2,288,584 Longfellow June 30, 1942 2,302,691 Green Nov. 24, 1942 2,426,197 Goldberg Aug. 26, 1947 

